"America has two great dominant strands of political thought - conservatism,
which, at its very best, draws lines that should not be crossed;
and progressivism, which, at its very best, breaks down barriers that
should never have been erected."
-- Bill Clinton, Dedication of the Clinton Presidential Library, November 2004

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Dick Golden, a frequent visitor at Dean Nation & Progressive Nation, had this published in the Sarasota Herald Tribune today:

Primary votes still matter

The presidential primary Tuesday is still important. It offers Florida Democrats the opportunity to vote with their hearts. The preferences expressed in the primary do not have to relate to the votes cast in the Nov. 2 election. March is for the heart; November is for the head.

Understandably, the Democratic Leadership Council and the Democratic National Committee have been eager to produce a presidential candidate. Clich? or not, there are occasions when haste makes waste.

Howard Dean is on the Florida ballot. If he was or might have been one's candidate -- and if one accepts the fact that Dean's candidacy for 2004 is undeniably dead -- please read on.

Dean suspended his campaign and pledged to support the eventual Democratic candidate, and to urge his own supporters to vote for whomever the Democratic candidate turned out to be.

Dean is seeking votes to enhance his voice in the writing of the Democratic platform. Vote counts in the primary determine the numbers of delegates candidates get. The greater number of delegates candidates get, the greater their influences on the party platform.

Philip McNamara, director of delegate selection of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, has said that candidates who suspend their campaigns can be represented by delegates at the July convention. He has specifically declared Howard Dean (and Wesley Clark) eligible to get delegates.

Finally, John Kerry has locked up the nomination. Dean's pledge of support is still out there.

What Dean wants is the opportunity to most effectively represent people who support his causes in the drafting of the Democratic platform.

Richard W. Golden
Sarasota

Dick also observes: All information currently available indicates that all Democratic primary votes -- until after all primaries have been held -- will be counted AND that all votes for Dean will be registered. So there is every reason for anyone who supports Howard Dean's causes to vote for him. Everything to gain; nothing to lose. A Dean supporter can (heaven forbid!) even vote for Dennis Kucinich in November.

With significantly more delegate votes than have already been cast are still up for grabs -- even a 15% Dean turnout will give him important increased leverage in pushing for a progressive Democratic platform at the convention. Texas and Florida are only the starting points. EVERY VOTE IN EVERY STATE THAT HAS A PRIMARY COMING UP COUNTS.

Wouldn't it be great if every Dean supporter reading this called, say, five other Dean people and asked them to be sure to turn out...and to pass the word?

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About Nation-Building

Nation-Building was founded by Aziz Poonawalla in August 2002 under the name Dean Nation. Dean Nation was the very
first weblog devoted to a presidential candidate, Howard Dean, and became the vanguard of the Dean netroot phenomenon, raising
over $40,000 for the Dean campaign, pioneering the use of Meetup, and enjoying the attention of the campaign itself, with Joe Trippi
a regular reader (and sometime commentor). Howard Dean himself even left a comment once. Dean Nation was a group weblog effort and counts
among its alumni many of the progressive blogsphere's leading talent including Jerome Armstrong, Matthew Yglesias, and Ezra Klein. After
the election in 2004, the blog refocused onto the theme of "purple politics",
formally changing its name to Nation-Building in June 2006.
The primary focus of the blog is on articulating
purple-state policy at home and
pragmatic liberal interventionism abroad.